Be Succinct! (Writing for the Web)

Jakob Nielsen’s article, ‘Be Succinct!’ outlines how to write on the web for the reader. As studies show, online readers do not typically read word-for-word, writing styles have to change in order to convey the message.

Nielson lists three main guidelines for writing on the web as:
 1. Be succinct- in other words, use about 50% less texts on the web as you would in print. Readers find that online reading is more tiresome than reading from paper and since high-resolution screens are still in the newer stages (expensive) many people will continue to pass over long text.

 2. Write for scan-ability- Users normally scan texts picking out keywords, sentences, and paragraphs of interest skipping over parts that they don’t care to read. To help with this problem Nielsen suggests using two or three level headings, meaningful headings and highlighting and emphasizing texts.          

 3. Use hypertexts to make texts shorter by splitting information into nodes connected by links. Hypertext should not be used to segment longer linear pieces, instead split the pieces into chunks that focus on certain areas of the topic. Each hypertext should be written in the inverse pyramid style and a short conclusion of what has happened.

By following these simple guidelines, writing for the web will become an easier task to read and write.

I am a recent Google convert, previously I used Yahoo, MSN, or Ask to find information that I was looking for. After reading all the wonderful and creative things Google does, by Sree Sreenivason, I have opened my own GMail account and use the search engine for all my exploring needs. 

Sreenivason has listed some of the newest features Google offers. Here are some of the most interesting things Google has done in its eight year existence:

1. Gmail- A free email service that allows users more space than Hotmail, Yahoo or AOL, but the kicker is the space keeps growing to allow more space for your emails.
2. Toolbar- Use this instead of going to the Google website. It is integrated into your web browser cutting down the time spent searching.
3. News- This allows you to search up to 4,500 constantly updating news websites at once. It also offers customizing so you see the ones that you would like first but still with the option of viewing the others.
4. Print- As I am a “bookivore” I found this very useful as I am able to search books that I may want to read. It is very frustrating searching for a book only to get home and hate the writing.
5. Froogle- I love shopping and that says enough.

You can find a more detailed list of Google’s features here.

Five Steps to Multimedia Reporting

The basic five steps to crafting a successful multimedia project starts with choosing, storyboarding, field work, editing and assembling the project. Jane Stevens of Multimedia Reporting and Convergence gives us helpful tips on how to get your project from start to finish.

What makes a story multimedia? Not so plainly, multimedia is a combination of texts, graphics, photographs, video, audio and interactivity on a web site. More importantly, the media helps enhance the story in a nonlinear way and not redundantly.

Choosing a Story

Multimedia stories need to be multi-dimensional and show action. They need multiple layers such as videos and photos that show action, audio to give a voice/sound to the project, graphics for illustration and great quotes, all of this is of course in addition to text.

Storyboard

A storyboard is essentially a sketch of how to organize your story and what contents you have for it. It helps you consider what media tools will be most effective in creating your project.

Following these rules as listed by Stevens will help you get a nonlinear and easy to navigate story.

1. Divide story into parts: don’t look at it as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd thing, look at as parts of a whole that intertwine and enhance the story.
2. Video: decide what would be best on video.
3. Photo: decide what works best in still photo. Consider using panoramas and 360 degree shots.
4. Audio: will it be used with video or still photo? Which will present the story you are looking for? Poor audio quality will make video/photo look worse and detract from the story. But good audio will greatly add to the story.
5. Graphics: graphics show how things work. By using graphs, charts and interactivities it gives the reader additional insight.
6. Location maps may be used to help assist readers with the location of the topic of your story.
7. Text is a major part of your story since not everything can be told through video, audio, graphics etc. Figure out what is left out of your story, i.e. history, personal accounts, quotes.
8. Ensure the media is complementary to the story and not redundant.
9. Allow the reader to interact with the story, by linking, surveying, forums and other ways.

After your gathered all your information, put it together and figure out what is likely to be the best suit for your project.

Fieldwork

Before stepping out into the field, ensure that you have all the programs, batteries, film, cameras, contacts, paper and pens ready. Work from your storyboard, do interviews in and out of the field of the story. Review your material before leaving the site (if possible), check and re-check your quotes. Review. Review. Review.

Editing

For some this will probably be the hardest, but nevertheless it is the most essential part of creating your story. Looking back at your storyboard, see if there are any changes and make them if need be. The purpose is to check to see if the video, audio, graphics, texts and interactives are suitable for the story.

Assembly

Now that you have edited the piece, it is now down to assembling the way the story will be told. Of course, put the most important information up front as you would with print and then follow from there.

In today’s technology age, journalists are struggling to keep up with the ever evolving means of taking news from the print paper and making it interactive in the internet form. Joe Marren gives great tips on making that transition to effective web writing.

1. Know your audience. This is the first step in deciding who will be reading your articles. Most online readers don’t actually read, so it is important to get their attention immediately and hold on to it.
2. Articles should not be formulaic. In general readers want to know and see different things. Using visual aids such as graphics, interactives, photos, audio and surveys will greatly enhance the readers experience on your website.
3. Making it tight and bright. Don’t leave readers waiting to find out the conclusions, tell them immediately why they are reading this.
4. Use action-verbs and subject-verb sentences. Active voice engages a reader more and puts them there. Be careful of overuse of adjectives and adverbs.
5. Explain. Why is the reader reading this? Once again do not leave your reader making guesses as to what this story is, who it’s about, when it happened or any thing else that would cause your reader to question himself.
6. Gray, Black and White space is BAD, BAD, BAD. A little of too much of anything can be bad, but in web writing, it draws the reader away. Are your sentences to long, can the story be told in another way that would lessen the gray space and get the point across?
7. Links! Links! Links! Links are the key to helping your reader digest material by giving them other avenues to do more research. Links also help you as the writer to shorten sentences. As stated before readers do not really read.